Columbus to Lakepointe

Trip Overview

My son and I paddled from Columbus, GA to Lakepointe State Park in Alabama on the Chattahoochee River. The trip was about 54 miles over three days.

We put in at about 8:30 at the Bulldog Bait Shop boat ramp in Columbus. We paddled South with minimal wind and a little bit of current pushing us for the first part of the journey. There are not many good places to get out anywhere on this trip. After about 7 miles, you will see the National Infantry Museum on the left side of the river. After this, you enter Fort Benning. There are no signs or visible buildings to indicate this. However, you may hear rifle and gunnery ranges as you pass through. At about 10 miles there is an area called Engineer's landing where you will likely see a number of people out fishing for catfish from shore. It was crowded with fishermen the day we passed by, so we did not stop here. At about 15 miles you will pass under a bridge for Dixie Highway and then about a mile later you come to Uchee Creek campground. This is a military campground. You have to be military or veteran to camp there. However, they do have a small shop that anyone can use. They sold ice and beer and a very modest selection of snacks. We tied up to the dock and took a break before finishing our day on the water. After a lunch stop, we got back in and paddled the remaining 7 miles or so to Riverbend Campground. Riverbend is a free campground on the Georgia side of the river. They don't take reservations. There are 10 sites that are primitive, but very nicely maintained. A couple of notes about Riverbend. As you approach, there is a large bend in the river. You can check a map and find that it is possible to cut through and save yourself about a mile of paddling. By this point there is no current. It is basically a lake from here all the way to Lakepointe and beyond. We took the short cut and had no problem passing through. When you get to Riverbend, you will want to pull off and tie to a tree as soon as you get to the park. Its a kind of steep climb up to the park, but the easiest access is immediately at the edge of the campground. Hopefully, you will get lucky like we did and find the adjacent campsite vacant. There are a lot of wild hogs at this campground, so make sure you secure your food properly.

The next day, we were planning to paddle to Rood Creek which is another free campground on the Georgia side of the lake. However, we encountered severe winds from the South. By the end, we were paddling hard and only making about 2 mph. We decided that we couldn't make it to Rood Creek, so we stopped a few miles short at the Florence Marina State Park in Georgia. Fortunately, they had a cabin available as the wind that we encountered was the leading edge of a storm front. A tornado ended up blowing through that night, and we were grateful to not be tent camping. This day was about 19 miles of paddling. Before the wind kicked up, we had very good luck fishing. We just trolled a couple of crankbaits behind the canoe and paused from time to time to reel in fish. We caught mostly striped bass, with a few largemouths and one catfish.

After getting a shower and sleeping in a bed, we were energized and ready to tackle the remaining miles to Lakepointe. This was about 12 miles. On this day, we saw a lot of Alligators. We had been hoping to see one on the trip. We ended up seeing about 20 before we lost count. They tend to hang out at all the places that look like they would be nice to stop. They are on every sand bar for miles. We saw all of them from a safe distance, and they made the trip interesting.

There is another campground at Bluff Creek that we did not stop at. We passed it on Saturday about 10 mile beyond Riverbend. It is on the Alabama side of the lake and looked to be a very nice place, although we didn't get out. It would be a good spot to break up the trip a little if the longer mileage is daunting.

All in all, this was a great trip. Exhasting, but a great experience on the water.